Today, Monday at 4 pm ET, Virginia’s senior Senator Mark Warner (his Substack is here) joins us for a Substack Live to discuss Trump’s strike in Venezuela, Congressional war power, and what to expect next.
QUESTION FOR SENATOR WARNER: Given Hegseth's morning announcement that he is pursuing charges against Senator Mark Kelly, how will Congress and the Senate protect & defend Sen. Kelly clapping back this ridiculous, juvenile and illegal vindictive prosecution?
Hegseth was even in the military, so he proves his total ignorance about what his duty was when he was a soldier, couldn't have cared less what his oath to the military was, or anything else about it--except he's proven how much he loves murdering people. We certainly know that Donnie-2-Dolls would have a clue about anything military, since he bribed a doctor to keep him out, and no doubt has never even heard of the Military Code of Conduct, created by a previous POTUS, but one who WAS in the military and actually cared about it.
So the person who should be dragged back into active duty, specifically to be court martialed is HEGSETH--and Vance, too, since he's lying and showing his total ignorance of his duty when he was in the military, make us all LESS safe.
Quoting a part of said Military Code of Conduct to the country, including those now in the military, and therefore working under this very Code and should be following it, is not only legal and free speech to all in governmental positions, but also just continuing to believe in said Code, because it is part of them.
Proposing a reduction in anyone's military pension for merely SERVING OUR MILITARY, even after retirement, is so outrageous, disgusting, immoral, and proof of total ignorance of our country and certainly proof of being unfit for any position in any government--this is about Hegseth, Vance, and Donnie-2-Dolls, of course--and so many other words I could use, but won't here.
QUESTION FOR SENATOR WARNER: What, precisely, can Democrats DO to rein in this rogue administration and elected Republican enablers? WHY is your hair not on fire like the rest of us?
That is a good question. But in the Senator's defense, his hair is on fire and he has been outspoken since day one, and also has traveled the state to get his message out. (I am a VA resident.)
He's a good man. But he seems totally oblivious to the danger! He seems to think this is a phase and we'll have fair elections and the murders by this regime will be okay. My own senators are in the same nice-guy-"can't we all be friends" camp.
Critical timing for this conversation. I just published analysis showing Venezuela wasn’t improvisation, it’s the November NSS’s “Trump Corollary” being executed exactly as written, authorizing military force to seize “strategically vital assets” while bypassing Congress by reframing regime change as “law enforcement.”
Questions for Senator Warner:
On War Powers: The administration claims this was an “arrest operation” not requiring authorization. Does that precedent now allow the President to bomb any capital and extract any leader under indictment? Where’s the limiting principle?
On the NSS Framework: The November National Security Strategy explicitly authorizes this operation. Has the Senate Intelligence Committee assessed how this doctrine applies to Cuba, Mexico, or other hemisphere targets Trump has threatened?
On Institutional Response: If the privileged resolution fails or gets watered down, what’s left to prevent this becoming the template for systematic regime change across Latin America without congressional oversight?
Venezuela proved the doctrine works…no pushback, mission accomplished. What stops the next one?
Thank you, Johan. You pose all rational responses but bear in mind, there is a sub human in the office and he will do whatever he is allowed. He will burn down the forest. Doesn’t matter. We are or have entered a lawless state.
To my way of thinking, do we want more of the same so that our mid terms will produce a super majority of democrats and at what price will we pay? Us democrats are known to screw up repeatedly so we almost need major disruptions in our body politics, our economy, our society. We almost need the stock market to take a 1929-like crash. Or do we want the cabinet full of nitwits to take over? You see, there is no solution.
Let’s call up 📞 Joe Biden and ask him to re-enter the White House with democratic armed militias. After dark, climb over the fences and resume his position in the Oval Office. As I’m want to say, our gooses are cooked.
Are there ways for voters whose Senators are not Republicans to exert pressure on Republican Senators to take a stand against the Trump regime's illegal military adventures?
Question for the senator: Trump, the Republicans and the Far Right are, disgustingly, in the news and on social media every single day. Why hasn't the Democratic Party taken the initiative to control the public narrative here? Where is the likable, knowledgeable and trustworthy spokesperson representing us, every single day, to provide the counterpoints needed and refute the incessant lies and garbage?
Those who think they control ALL the power and ALL the weapons do not CARE what The People think. Ask any dictator. Putin Xi Kim Orban Khomeini Netanayahu Trump... same deal. They are all powerful and untouchable until someone gives their life to change that. And that rarely happens.
There would have to be millions of Americans in the streets of every city every day for a week to get Congress's attention.
I appreciated Sen. Warner's comments that stated, basically, what's to stop other countries from taking over sovereign countries they just want to if Donnie-2-Dolls is going to ignore and abuse so many? Warner mentioned Putin and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, etc.
BUT, he left out what I think is even more important--though it's hard to be more important than those mentioned: "What would prevent, say, China and its allies of now North Korea and possibly India from invading the United States and imprisoning its alleged president and taking what resources it/they just want to take for their own, personal gain???????"
This is why we have international law... and the UN. Not respected apparently alas. Apparently "might makes right" in the world now and Trump agrees.
Survival of the "fittest" will rule. Smaller countries to remain will need their own nukes or be under a nuclear umbrella collective of the more powerful. There is a need for resources as we grow more population and don't pay attention to climate change and the need for people to migrate.
Yes, the Golden Rule hasn't even been on any R's mind it seems, despite the current president's adoration for gold. How would the US react to this same 'action' against any elected official and bombing of a US city?
Please let the Senator know we are angry about what Trump has done in Venezuela and demand the Congress make it known to Trump and the other evil members of the White House and cabinet that the people of the United States do not sanction or support this evil incursion on a sovereign country and demand the return of Maduro and his wife to Venezuela immediately. No questions, Just action!!!!
Should there be a nationwide call for a general strike in opposition to the falling trump administration, one promoted by all news outlets and other interface organizations between the ventral public and political activist organizations and individuals?
Question: If any Congressional action is to be taken, what does enforcement look like? By whom, when, and how?
So far Trump has snubbed his nose at any effort to curtail his whims, and he is surrounded by staff, cabinet members, and apparently a military that are loyal to him before our country or the people. We are treading water, and they have all the life savers.
Has Senator Warner seen any evidence his Republican colleagues in the gang of eight are looking to push Trump in attacking another country without congressional approval or even notifying the gang of eight?
Viewing the situation from the safety and calm of Devon England, and as a frequent former visitor to the US, is very upsetting and depressing.
Trump has single handedly turned the US into a rogue State on a path to being no better than Russia.
With Congress and legislators spineless and absent the only way back is huge public protest. But does the Senator think that likely?
Hoping for success in the midterms is too far away and anyway is it really likely that Trump would allow any adverse result to stand.
So it's back to massive civil action and possibly civil war. What the alternative looks like is already frightenly clear. It now looks the most likely outcome. What a tragedy.
My questions are similar to those posed by Johan below. What can be done to stop this unprecedented action from being repeated against other sovereign countries both within our region and elsewhere, i.e., Greenland? This was so clearly military force and a planned military action regardless of the empty words articulated about a law enforcement action. It will be harder to claim a law enforcement action against other targets Mr. Trump has mused about, unless they completely fabricate charges against other leaders. How can we stop the Department of Justice from doing just that?
Trump’s tariffs against Canada are supposedly buttressed by his accusation that Canadian drug smuggling constitutes the need for Emergency Measures by the U.S. Less than 🔹 1% of Canada-to-US fentanyl trafficking occurs.
— drug smuggling has been an American all-purpose accusation in the past, as justification for invasions & wars.
Excerpt : The strike also risks setting a dangerous global precedent. The more Washington collapses the boundary between 🔻 crime and war, the more it normalizes military force against non-state actors in peacetime. This may deter smuggling operations for a short time, but it would deeply corrode the long-term international norms that protect American mariners and businesses.
Finally, such a policy risks militarization of all transnational crime. If narcotics can be met with missiles, could human trafficking or *illegal fishing be next? Applying the logic of the battlefield to every illicit activity risks entangling the U.S. military in endless, legally dubious campaigns.”
I have yet to read anything about the estimated 10-30 thousand Cuban forces reported to be in Venezuela to secure oil for Cuba. How do they figure in the administration’s thinking and planning?
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How do we get Congress to focus on domestic policy - housing, hunger, child care and so much more. Also venezuela is a major distraction from the Epstein files - what can be done to get the DOJ to follow the law and release them.
QUESTION FOR SENATOR WARNER: Given Hegseth's morning announcement that he is pursuing charges against Senator Mark Kelly, how will Congress and the Senate protect & defend Sen. Kelly clapping back this ridiculous, juvenile and illegal vindictive prosecution?
Thank you
And the proposed reduction of Sen Kelly’s military pension?
That's just one part of it. Also reduction in rank and a permanent letter of censure in his military record.
Hegseth was even in the military, so he proves his total ignorance about what his duty was when he was a soldier, couldn't have cared less what his oath to the military was, or anything else about it--except he's proven how much he loves murdering people. We certainly know that Donnie-2-Dolls would have a clue about anything military, since he bribed a doctor to keep him out, and no doubt has never even heard of the Military Code of Conduct, created by a previous POTUS, but one who WAS in the military and actually cared about it.
So the person who should be dragged back into active duty, specifically to be court martialed is HEGSETH--and Vance, too, since he's lying and showing his total ignorance of his duty when he was in the military, make us all LESS safe.
Quoting a part of said Military Code of Conduct to the country, including those now in the military, and therefore working under this very Code and should be following it, is not only legal and free speech to all in governmental positions, but also just continuing to believe in said Code, because it is part of them.
Proposing a reduction in anyone's military pension for merely SERVING OUR MILITARY, even after retirement, is so outrageous, disgusting, immoral, and proof of total ignorance of our country and certainly proof of being unfit for any position in any government--this is about Hegseth, Vance, and Donnie-2-Dolls, of course--and so many other words I could use, but won't here.
Hegseth is a nothing to Senator Mark Kelly. I doubt he knows how to tie his shoes.
QUESTION FOR SENATOR WARNER: What, precisely, can Democrats DO to rein in this rogue administration and elected Republican enablers? WHY is your hair not on fire like the rest of us?
That is a good question. But in the Senator's defense, his hair is on fire and he has been outspoken since day one, and also has traveled the state to get his message out. (I am a VA resident.)
He's a good man. But he seems totally oblivious to the danger! He seems to think this is a phase and we'll have fair elections and the murders by this regime will be okay. My own senators are in the same nice-guy-"can't we all be friends" camp.
I actually spoke with him in person this past summer, and that is not how he views things.
O
We need a National Day of Action by citizens. The Senate has failed us!
Critical timing for this conversation. I just published analysis showing Venezuela wasn’t improvisation, it’s the November NSS’s “Trump Corollary” being executed exactly as written, authorizing military force to seize “strategically vital assets” while bypassing Congress by reframing regime change as “law enforcement.”
Questions for Senator Warner:
On War Powers: The administration claims this was an “arrest operation” not requiring authorization. Does that precedent now allow the President to bomb any capital and extract any leader under indictment? Where’s the limiting principle?
On the NSS Framework: The November National Security Strategy explicitly authorizes this operation. Has the Senate Intelligence Committee assessed how this doctrine applies to Cuba, Mexico, or other hemisphere targets Trump has threatened?
On Institutional Response: If the privileged resolution fails or gets watered down, what’s left to prevent this becoming the template for systematic regime change across Latin America without congressional oversight?
Venezuela proved the doctrine works…no pushback, mission accomplished. What stops the next one?
—Johan
Former Foreign Service Officer
Thank you, Johan. You pose all rational responses but bear in mind, there is a sub human in the office and he will do whatever he is allowed. He will burn down the forest. Doesn’t matter. We are or have entered a lawless state.
To my way of thinking, do we want more of the same so that our mid terms will produce a super majority of democrats and at what price will we pay? Us democrats are known to screw up repeatedly so we almost need major disruptions in our body politics, our economy, our society. We almost need the stock market to take a 1929-like crash. Or do we want the cabinet full of nitwits to take over? You see, there is no solution.
Let’s call up 📞 Joe Biden and ask him to re-enter the White House with democratic armed militias. After dark, climb over the fences and resume his position in the Oval Office. As I’m want to say, our gooses are cooked.
I suggest we ask some country to follow the Trump Doctrine and remove him for us.
Are there ways for voters whose Senators are not Republicans to exert pressure on Republican Senators to take a stand against the Trump regime's illegal military adventures?
Question for the senator: Trump, the Republicans and the Far Right are, disgustingly, in the news and on social media every single day. Why hasn't the Democratic Party taken the initiative to control the public narrative here? Where is the likable, knowledgeable and trustworthy spokesperson representing us, every single day, to provide the counterpoints needed and refute the incessant lies and garbage?
Thank you , Joyce and your team, for all you do.
And why are We, The People (the majority) so impotent in affecting this Administration’s policies? We massively protest, but to what effect?
Those who think they control ALL the power and ALL the weapons do not CARE what The People think. Ask any dictator. Putin Xi Kim Orban Khomeini Netanayahu Trump... same deal. They are all powerful and untouchable until someone gives their life to change that. And that rarely happens.
There would have to be millions of Americans in the streets of every city every day for a week to get Congress's attention.
I appreciated Sen. Warner's comments that stated, basically, what's to stop other countries from taking over sovereign countries they just want to if Donnie-2-Dolls is going to ignore and abuse so many? Warner mentioned Putin and Ukraine, China and Taiwan, etc.
BUT, he left out what I think is even more important--though it's hard to be more important than those mentioned: "What would prevent, say, China and its allies of now North Korea and possibly India from invading the United States and imprisoning its alleged president and taking what resources it/they just want to take for their own, personal gain???????"
This is why we have international law... and the UN. Not respected apparently alas. Apparently "might makes right" in the world now and Trump agrees.
Survival of the "fittest" will rule. Smaller countries to remain will need their own nukes or be under a nuclear umbrella collective of the more powerful. There is a need for resources as we grow more population and don't pay attention to climate change and the need for people to migrate.
Yes, the Golden Rule hasn't even been on any R's mind it seems, despite the current president's adoration for gold. How would the US react to this same 'action' against any elected official and bombing of a US city?
Please let the Senator know we are angry about what Trump has done in Venezuela and demand the Congress make it known to Trump and the other evil members of the White House and cabinet that the people of the United States do not sanction or support this evil incursion on a sovereign country and demand the return of Maduro and his wife to Venezuela immediately. No questions, Just action!!!!
Should there be a nationwide call for a general strike in opposition to the falling trump administration, one promoted by all news outlets and other interface organizations between the ventral public and political activist organizations and individuals?
Question: If any Congressional action is to be taken, what does enforcement look like? By whom, when, and how?
So far Trump has snubbed his nose at any effort to curtail his whims, and he is surrounded by staff, cabinet members, and apparently a military that are loyal to him before our country or the people. We are treading water, and they have all the life savers.
Has Senator Warner seen any evidence his Republican colleagues in the gang of eight are looking to push Trump in attacking another country without congressional approval or even notifying the gang of eight?
Viewing the situation from the safety and calm of Devon England, and as a frequent former visitor to the US, is very upsetting and depressing.
Trump has single handedly turned the US into a rogue State on a path to being no better than Russia.
With Congress and legislators spineless and absent the only way back is huge public protest. But does the Senator think that likely?
Hoping for success in the midterms is too far away and anyway is it really likely that Trump would allow any adverse result to stand.
So it's back to massive civil action and possibly civil war. What the alternative looks like is already frightenly clear. It now looks the most likely outcome. What a tragedy.
My questions are similar to those posed by Johan below. What can be done to stop this unprecedented action from being repeated against other sovereign countries both within our region and elsewhere, i.e., Greenland? This was so clearly military force and a planned military action regardless of the empty words articulated about a law enforcement action. It will be harder to claim a law enforcement action against other targets Mr. Trump has mused about, unless they completely fabricate charges against other leaders. How can we stop the Department of Justice from doing just that?
Trump’s tariffs against Canada are supposedly buttressed by his accusation that Canadian drug smuggling constitutes the need for Emergency Measures by the U.S. Less than 🔹 1% of Canada-to-US fentanyl trafficking occurs.
— drug smuggling has been an American all-purpose accusation in the past, as justification for invasions & wars.
https://www.usni.org/lethality_and_legality
Excerpt : The strike also risks setting a dangerous global precedent. The more Washington collapses the boundary between 🔻 crime and war, the more it normalizes military force against non-state actors in peacetime. This may deter smuggling operations for a short time, but it would deeply corrode the long-term international norms that protect American mariners and businesses.
Finally, such a policy risks militarization of all transnational crime. If narcotics can be met with missiles, could human trafficking or *illegal fishing be next? Applying the logic of the battlefield to every illicit activity risks entangling the U.S. military in endless, legally dubious campaigns.”
I have yet to read anything about the estimated 10-30 thousand Cuban forces reported to be in Venezuela to secure oil for Cuba. How do they figure in the administration’s thinking and planning?
U.S. citizens living, serving, or studying abroad—you can vote from wherever you are! 🌍 Visit https://votefromabroad.org to register and request your overseas ballot.
It’s quick, free, and valid for all elections in 2026. Need help? Write to help@votefromabroad.org.
Vote from Abroad volunteers are ready to assist you with any questions about requesting or returning your ballot. Don’t wait! Request your ballot today and make your voice heard! 🗳️
Can we please have Jack Smith in front of the full Congress? Republicans have already gotten away with hiding him, nothing will be new to them.
How do we get Trump and Hegseth arrested and jailed for crimes against humanity? And Trumps treason.
How do we get Congress to focus on domestic policy - housing, hunger, child care and so much more. Also venezuela is a major distraction from the Epstein files - what can be done to get the DOJ to follow the law and release them.